Peter Shanks, Cunard president and managing director, explains: 'We have been able to introduce this extra pre-Christmas sailing because Queen Mary 2’s planned refit in November can be completed in less time than we allowed.'
In the drydocking, all the cabins and most of the public rooms on the ship will be refurbished.
The itinerary for the Southampton roundtrip voyage features Le Havre (for Paris) and Zeebrugge (for Bruges), as well as a day at sea.
Blake launched their first album in 2007, and saw it go straight to number one in the UK Classical Album Chart. In 2008, the group secured a Brit Award for Album of the Year. They have subsequently sold over half a million albums.